Fireclaws - Search for the Golden (15 page)

Mentally slapping myself back into line, I considered that no sharp items were working; that would leave blunt force. Reabsorbing the anteater paw, I forced my backside up out of the ooze and readied a leg. Striped black and white hide encompassed me from the ribcage down both legs, finally ending in wicked black hooves. Hip muscles rippled and grew, as well, as I struggled to remain small enough to have the movement to kick in this enclosed space. Placing my still human hands firmly against the shell bottom in the leftover amniotic fluid so that I could utilize the longest part of the egg, my legs twitched with pent up energy. I focused on getting good extension and let it fly. My hooves pounded into the shell top with a satisfactory crack. Looking up, I noticed a glowing spider web of light radiating out from the point of impact which seemed to spread itself out over a far bigger area of the shell. Then the lines of light extinguished and it was as if I had never struck the shell at all; self-healing!

Panting erratically, I allowed myself to go limp, even sliding ungracefully into the warm egg slime while I considered my situation anew. This was no ordinary shell and given the size, it came from an immense creature. The largest natural egg I had ever read about was that of an ostrich; this chamber was many times bigger and tougher. If that is the case, then this had to be the shell of a magical creature. I ticked off the magical creatures with huge eggs in my mind, and almost every one of them required magic or magical weapons to harm. It could be that their egg shells featured the same protection.

My friend, Lin, had taught me a Druid cantrip, which occasionally became useful when faced with undead such as vampires. Usually, it was cast on a weapon or stick but I would have to see if it worked on hooves, as well. Settling the incantation on my feet, I was pleased to see at least a faint blue light ring the sharp outer edge of my hooves.

“Thanks, Lin, you may pull me out of this yet,” I panted aloud, the sound of even my own voice buoying up my spirits a bit. Readying my stance exactly as before, I coiled all my remaining energy down toward my hands and then released it explosively back toward the top of the chamber. Both hooves shattered a good-sized chunk of shell outward, leaving a hole the size of my head. As cool, clean air poured into the shell from above, I kicked a couple more times to assure I had a space large enough to escape. The shell’s perfect arch was ruined, its invulnerability a thing of the past, and I was free! Gasping at the rapid influx of painfully cold life-giving oxygen, I tried to fully catch my breath before becoming an elf once more.

Still naked, I pulled myself up out of the egg chamber. The eggshell, and now my feet, rested upright on a round, smoothly-polished stone dais of sorts. Five feet or so above, the ceiling was covered with brightly shining crystals that gave off a strong white light. There was a collar of stone around them so that the light shown straight down and did not diffuse much to the sides at all. Even with my elf night vision, I couldn’t see beyond a few dozen feet past where I was standing. I had no way of verifying it, of course, but I couldn’t feel any green growing life force anywhere nearby and it frightened me a little. Even far underground, persistent roots seek water and nutrients. The thought even crossed my mind that I had truly died and this was the entrance to the elf underworld that the elders endlessly prattled on about. My association with the Nova and Sky Raven had driven most of that dread and misinformation out of my mind, but still the fears of a little girl lingered ominously in my head.

“Good, you are awake and active,” the female voice from my dream echoed in my mind. At least, she had seemed somewhat friendly.

“Diori?” I asked hesitantly.

“Yes, that is how I am known here. I see my experiment in letting you listen to the conversation with Thokul was a success. Excellent, I believe it will speed things up considerably.” A short ways away, another section of ceiling crystals lit up, revealing another similar-sized platform. This one contained a being sitting cross-legged, hands folded in front, watching me intently. When I say being, well that was kind of a stretch, at least, in the living sort of way. It appeared that Diori was made of stone, a black and white, coarsely mixed variation. Her physical shape and features matched my own; in fact, it was like looking at a Ryliss statue. “Are you calm and in control now, elf?”

I leaned tiredly back against the shell and nodded. She continued, “As you are aware, I am very anxious to ask you some questions. But I also think that if this situation is anything like the fable of the Nine Cats of Diogethes, then you have questions as well. I propose we take turns asking what we desire to know, but first, I perceive you have some corporeal needs.” She nodded off into the darkness, and I heard a scampering of small feet.

A creature about a foot and a half tall, wearing a formal uniform, appeared carrying a tray. Behind him, an identical creature had a bundle of clothing, and behind that one was another hauling a chair. Each of the creatures had a sharp rat-like face and an almost painted on ingratiating smile. A long, hairless three-pronged tail dragged behind each of them. The first stepped aside and allowed the one with the clothing to approach me first. With a polished bow, it presented me with a green-tinted robe, very similar to what the earth students at Xarparion wear daily. The third placed the chair solidly on the dais next to the eggshell, and after I slipped into the robe, beckoned gallantly for me to sit down. After accomplishing their tasks, Two and Three disappeared back into the darkness, while Number One placed the tray carefully on my lap. It contained skewers of grilled vegetables, a bowl of berries, and a large tankard of half wine.

“Thank you very much,” I said, smiling at the creature. While its expression didn’t change in the slightest, it did spring off with more of a bounce in its step than when it had arrived. I greedily gulped a good portion of the wine; the taste left over in my mouth from the egg was disturbing to even think about. Looking over at my host, I finally straightened up and attempted to compose myself. “Diori, if I may call you that, thank you for saving my life.”

“You are most welcome. By what name are you called, Elf?”

“Ryliss Tancreek, but please call me Ryliss.”

Diori’s facial expression was wreathed in a broad smile. “The exclusion of the surname in normal conversation suggests we are now informal acquaintances, does it not?”

“Yes, I am ready to answer any questions you might have.”

“I have numerous questions, not all of which my creator, Thokul, would approve. But I am mindful of your physical limitations, Ryliss. Please tell me when you become too fatigued to continue.” I nodded. “Have you been in contact with two luminaries recently?”

“You are talking about dragons, are you not?”

Diori tilted her head to the side as if thinking about it. “Yes, I believe that is your term for them.”

“Fair enough; I last saw Dawn and Dusk about sixty days ago.”

“And they were alive, hale, and healthy?”

“They were alive and healthy, at least when I left; however, they seemed to be beset by some malady that caused them to fall into a sleep from which they cannot be awakened.” I heard the stone girl draw in a hissing breath so I paused briefly to see if she was going to ask a question, but she remained silent. “Determining the cause and finding a cure is why I was sent on this mission. What is this place?”

“This place is called Anorthosite Hold; it is very ancient. The deep gnomes have served luminary-kind here for tens of thousands of years. You might think of it both as a seat of power and an embassy of sorts.”

“An embassy? For whom and for what purpose?”

“In the very old days, long before the days of man or even elf, luminaries were much more common, as were disputes among the very powerful. This place, always ruled by a golden luminary titled the Auric, was both sanctuary and place of judgment for the entire dragon species.”

“Good! How might I go about requesting an audience with this golden luminary? I need answers in order to help Dawn and Dusk.”

“I’m afraid we cannot help you. Our Auric, the golden as you refer to her, died nearly five of your years ago and the embassy is in disarray and rudderless. We haven’t even seen a luminary in several great cycles. It is as if every dragon on the planet has fallen into the Enuwaugg that your friends have and will not wake up. Frankly, it was our hope that your friends had been contacted by the Auric or had some idea how to avert this calamity.”

I shakily took another gulp of the wine. “Enuwaugg?”

The being on the other pedestal rose from her seated position and paced back and forth for a few moments. “Ryliss, answering that question could be very dangerous to your health; there are secrets in this place that are jealously guarded. I need to be sure of you, and even then… First, tell me how you came to be here?”

“Well, you brought me here, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but I wish to know the sequence of events that brought you here. I am over a thousand great cycles old, and yet you are the first outsider to stumble into Anorthosite in my memory. It just doesn’t happen. Even the village of elves living above us has no inkling that this place exists. No one but deep gnomes, we kobolds and, of course, the luminaries know of its existence. Yet you manage to find your way here, seeking to speak to our Auric, on a mission to save your friends. This would be laughably impossible without outside help, divine intervention or both.”

I shrugged. “One of my travel companions is a seer; she is the one who pointed us in this direction. But I will admit I didn’t think I would need to entertain death to find the answers I seek. Wait, you’re a kobold?” The only experience I had with kobolds was with the beings known as Lyandvaettr. They were the vengeful creatures of the deep earth that Julia had summoned at the battle of Sky Raven five years earlier. My friend refused to tell either Lin or me what really happened that day. But according to my readings of sketchy histories, the Lyandvaettr were only to be summoned for the end of the world; anything short of that and the summoner would pay a terrible price. I hoped for Julia’s sake that the Kerr sending our sun into supernova qualified. I paused and shook my head, I remembered next to nothing about other kinds of kobolds.

“A seer? Could not this seer simply tell you what you wanted to know?”

“Andi is very young and probably not fully into her own powers yet. She is better at just giving directions, and when I see her next, we’re definitely having a talk about those, too!” I chuckled wearily. “But, Diori, if you know what this malady is that put my dragon friends to sleep, please tell me.”

“Ryliss, how much knowledge of dragon lore have Dawn and Dusk shared with you?”

“Very little…”

“And you attribute this to what?”

“Well…they don’t know any other dragons, so it’s not like they have gotten any information by word of mouth. The books of my people and those of the wizard school, Xarparion, have next to nothing on dragon medicines or lifestyle. Mostly, the twins just operate on instinct, I guess. It’s not like there’s a dragon’s guidebook-to-life anywhere.”

Diori smiled and raised her arms. All around us more sections of ceiling lights began to glow and illuminate the surroundings. What I had imagined was a small intimate cavern was suddenly revealed to be enormous, easily a hundred yards or more in all directions. But what really drew my attention were the twenty-foot tall bookshelves that lined every wall and the tables stacked high with tomes and scrolls. There had to be tens of thousands of documents just within its walls.

“What is this place?” I stammered, not able to take my eyes off my surroundings…the books! My heart began racing like I had just run a long distance.

The kobold laughed, a strange and high-pitched tinkling sound that would have probably been more at home in the voice of a fairy. “This Ryliss…is the dragon’s guidebook-to-life!”

“Surely with all the collective wisdom of this place, there must be an answer?” I asked, dropping my head heavily to the table where we sat with a huge pile of books.

“Perhaps, but the truth is Anorthosite is not what she was in her glory. When the flow of magic was cut off, dragons, being the largest and the most magical of all the creatures, felt it first. It drained their vitality and made them quarrelsome and bitter. The luminaries associated with the primary colors turned inward and then finally, to evil. Those associated with metals: the bronzes, coppers, silvers, and goldens, remained true to their tenets, but their numbers plummeted. We received fewer and fewer of either kind here; most of these tomes were written millennia ago.”

“Tell me about it, I can only comprehend a third of what I am reading.”

“That is impressive in itself, Ryliss,” Diori commented dryly, moving some scrolls off the tabletop. “I would never have imagined that an adventurer from the top world would have been able to read any of it.”

I stopped and looked over at the stone girl with meaning. “So tell me, Diori, does that make me more or less of a liability to you? Why are you showing me all these works and helping me find the answers if you just intend to kill me to protect this place anyway?”

The construct remained motionless for a few seconds, then finished putting aside what she was working on and faced me. “Our former Auric’s name was Kailemora; I was her personal servant, friend, and advisor for centuries. I also thought of her as my mother in a way. Most deep gnomes do not believe my kind is capable of dreams or emotion. But as Thokul stated, there must have been a serious flaw in my makeup. The Auric and I sat at this very table for hours at a time and just talked. As I told Thokul, I do not believe Kailemora would have approved of any such plan. Even in the darkest hours, when it looked like the Lifebane would destroy this world, she had faith that the good people of the planet would prevail. I do not profess to be a proficient judge of such things, but I believe she would approve of what you are trying to accomplish for your friends, Dawn and Dusk. In her honor, I will have no part of any scheme to end your existence. Besides, I feel you have as much to offer Anorthosite as we do you, perhaps far more.”

“I don’t understand, Diori.”

“Let us concentrate on finding the answer to your problem first.”

At least ten hours of study later, during which I am pretty sure I dozed off several times, I blearily closed the last volume related to what was referred to as the Enuwaugg. I yawned and stood up, moving my arms and legs in an attempt to force some blood to flow to my limbs and, more importantly, to my brain.

“Alright, let’s sum up what we know,” I sighed. “The process known as the Enuwaugg has been going on since dragons became dragons.” Diori smiled and nodded as I continued, “It is usually a good thing, vital even, for a healthy dragon. It is a rejuvenating sleep process that triggers intellectual growth and is also when dragons acquire new abilities and talents. It spans color lines, meaning that it affects red dragons and silver dragons exactly the same way. It even occurs at approximately the same time and apparently ends at the same time, as well.”

“So, basically, every dragon in the world hibernates at precisely the same time for a month or so, roughly every hundred years. I wonder why that is?” Diori whispered.

“Perhaps it’s a defense mechanism? Think about it, for that month’s time, a dragon is virtually helpless. A dragon’s primary enemies are the humanoid races and other dragons. If all dragons are affected at the same time, it eliminates predation from dragon-kind, and dragon lairs are notoriously hard for humans or elves to find. No wonder they are so secretive about their biology. If word of this got out, it would be open season every century on dragons of all colors.”

“Let us hope that never happens. But to the point, nothing in these works points to the trigger that begins or finishes the process…it just happens,” the stone girl said in exasperation. “But they must be able to instinctively sense it coming on; otherwise, we would have dragons haphazardly dropping from the sky. Your friends, being very young and not having the benefit of council of other dragons, would have had no idea what was happening to them.”

“They would probably just have felt very tired and instinctively sought out their most secure lair for what they probably thought was just a short, relaxing nap. That would explain why there was no warning to anyone at Sky Raven,” I explained. “But this place, Anorthosite, has been around for millennia; surely this phenomenon must be better documented somewhere here.”

Diori threw up her hands in a decidedly human affectation. “If there is, I don’t know where it would be…Enuwaugg is just something we don’t talk about. This place is more like an embassy; we really don’t house dragons for long periods of time. A month with no dragon visitors every hundred years could easily be written off as a strange coincidence, and as you said, they are very secretive. Even as close as I was to our Auric, it wasn’t at all unusual for her to be gone for months at a time with no explanation of where she had been. Still, I have been wracking my nodules to remember one hundred years ago, and I don’t recall a period during that range of time where she disappeared for a month at a time.”

“Could it be possible that golden dragons are exempt from Enuwaugg?”

“I don’t think so,” she said dubiously, “not as a whole anyway. But when a golden takes on the mantle of the Auric, they change and become much more than just a golden dragon. Perhaps that should be our next area of research.”

“First, I’d like you to look at some hand-written pages tucked in the back of this last volume before we put it away. It might be gnomish.” Shoving the vellum toward her, I pointed out the faint spider-web thin script. “Can you read it?”

She froze like a genuine statue, and I was surprised to see large drops of water streaming down her smoothly polished features. Head bowed as if she carried a heavy weight, her stone body shook with tremors of emotion.

“Diori?”

After perhaps a full minute of this silence, the construct girl turned to me. “This is a letter from Kailemora herself, the last communication before she died. I always grieved that she did not think enough of me to say goodbye, now at least I know she did. Shakily, she started reading.

“Dearest Diori,

“I write this to you just hours after the great victory over the dark forces of the Lifebane. While I was not at the fortress called Sky Raven for the final battle, I trust the three luminaries under the Duke’s control that I intercepted on the way to the battle made up for my rudeness in not attending. They were stronger than anticipated, but if I helped tilt the battle in the favor of good in any way, it was worth every claw and bite and even the blood that flows so freely down my sides right now.

“I have reached the end of my long journey. I am sorry that I cannot spend more time with you and explain all this in detail. However, I even now feel a numbing weakness coming over me. At the end of this writing, I will be taking myself out over the great ocean for the last time lest my body fall into sinister hands.

“As you are reading this, you must be researching the Enuwaugg, and the situation with all the other luminaries must be grave indeed. First, as you no doubt have surmised, it is a natural and beneficial part of our lives. All luminaries, save for the Auric, succumb to its call within a few hours of each other. Those of us who have lived long lives recognize the symptoms and head for our chosen site of repose post haste. It occurs every century like clockwork, and the source of its power and what triggers it is a mystery even to us. However, as an Auric, being the only one awake for many of these episodes, I have noticed the correlation of events and thereby discovered what releases our race from its sleep. If you were another luminary and my time not so short, I would tease you with riddles about what process in the universe is capable of such precision. But it would be lost to you, little one, as you have never been to the surface world and gazed upon the stars at night.”

I was getting a bad feeling about all this. So what she is saying is that every hundred years there is a celestial conjunction of planets or stars that provide the magical impetuous to wake up the dragons. Like clockwork! What is more reliable than celestial events for timekeeping…brilliant! Except for one small detail…our planet is now several galaxies away from where it should be. The stars and planets will never align here in the same pattern or manner as they did before…ever. Dragon-kind is destined to never wake up!

“By now you, and anyone you have chosen to take into your confidence, will have realized the issue. When the Nova saved the planet, they may have inadvertently doomed our species. Pay special attention now, my child; there is good news and bad news. There is a way for the Auric to circumvent the celestial trigger. Think of it as a failsafe that was placed in our very makeup eons ago. It is also the reason the Auric alone watches vigil over its worldly flock both good and bad. The bad news is that I will not survive to perform that duty, nor is there any other existing gold dragon out there to pass the mantle of Auric forward.

“I know this must seem disheartening, Diori, and I can almost see your tears fall reading this as I am scribing this down. But know this; you are different for a reason. Your makeup was not the result of some random impurity that found its way into your being as Thokul suggests and complains constantly about. I had a part in infusing you with additional magics that made you different from the other kobolds. Diori, you alone, have a heart and a conscience and the ability to love as no other construct ever has. Why, you ask? Would you not have been better off feeling no pain, loneliness, or sorrow? The truth is probably yes, but I confess I had my own selfish interests to consider. Diori, I created and raised you to be the mother to my own child if necessary, and gave you access to the knowledge of all luminary-kind as well.”

“Child? What child?” I gasped. The stone girl held up a trembling finger to halt my speculation as she continued to read.

“By now, bright one, you have correctly guessed that I have hidden an egg, one from an earlier time, as a hedge against just such a calamity. With our numbers dwindling, it was inevitable that the metal-colored luminaries would come to this. I placed a powerful stasis on it, a variation on the special spell I taught only you, meaning that only you or I could remove it.

“As much as I would love to tell you where to find the egg chamber, I cannot take the chance that even this letter might fall into the wrong hands. Anorthosite is a shadow of its former glory, and without a strong Auric, it is no longer safe. I sense movements in the shadows whenever I walk these halls late at night, and it fills me with despair. Practitioners of the dark arts and their demon masters would go to great lengths to control the life of the last remaining golden. In the wrong hands, my baby could even become a tool of evil. I would rather the entire race of dragons perish than see an abomination like that occur.

“So you see, my dear, the fate of all luminary-kind rests on the shoulders of the one individual in this world that I trust wholly…you. To find and rescue my baby, you will need the help of others. One item that I never shared with you is that all Aurics are blessed with the gift of second sight, a very powerful gift. On my way here to write this, I set a series of events in motion to help you with this task. It is a quest, and like all good heroic quests, you will need to acquire friends and guides for the journey. I know this is a foreign concept to a construct, but you have the capacity to be more than your stone parts. Let your heart be your pathfinder.

“Once you have found the egg, assuming the hatchling inside is still viable, it will fall to you and your new friends to raise it. You must protect it at all costs until it is able to defend itself both mentally and physically. Have no illusions, even if my child manages to save luminary-kind, the evil side of our species would love the chance to kill the last golden. You must find it a safe and secure home with strong protectors until at least it has moved beyond juvenile stage.

“Diori, I know I have given you a daunting task. Please understand I had no choice. Blessed be the path you walk, my friend and child. I love you both, goodbye.”

Kailemora

“P.S. His name will be Donatello.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kerrik

“Andi, you’re taking us in circles!” I barked, looking at our map. “We’re no closer to Northfield than we were a week ago.”

“Patience, Brother,” she smirked with a wry smile. I had noticed in this past week that my sister’s mood had lightened considerably and she was beginning to enjoy life a bit more. I think the camping and the travel reminded her of better days on the caravan circuit, where at least she was free of her handicap. She and Daffi continued to bond, and the pooka made sure that she included Andi in most of the mundane tasks around the camp. “Have some faith that this is where we need to be right now.” She sighed happily, breathing in the scents of the campfire and the forest beyond.

Still checking the map, I decided that where we were…was most likely lost. Somewhere in the foothills of the mountain range we had been skirting for days. I had found some likely-looking passes and even over-flown a few to scout them, but Andea vetoed moving forward every time.

“Need I point out, Sis, that we are running out of food and we have heard the hounds in the distance at night twice this week? They have to know they have us pinned up against these mountains. How long will it be before they flood these foothills with their thugs?” I shook my head and looked around none too happily; we were camped along a small stream next to a birch thicket. The stream was a plus because we could use it to hide our trail if necessary. We had released the donkeys days ago, fearing that they were too recalcitrant, slow, and easily tracked. Of course, that meant we had to lose a large part of the gear we had been gifted by the elves as well. I tried to make good use of the bag of dimensions as best I could for the essentials. Without the donkeys, that meant that Andi rode on Daffi in her pooka horse form and I walked. Daffi insisted she was strong enough to hold us both, but I promised myself to save that for an emergency, if at all.